Cleveland city worker fired after not showing up for work...because he’s in jail

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The city of Cleveland fired a 58-year-old custodial employee for not showing up to work because he’s in jail awaiting trial on criminal charges that he stabbed his wife and tried to set her on fire, police and city officials said.

Cardell Boyd is charged with attempted murder, felonious assault, domestic violence, abduction, attempted aggravated aggravated arson and aggravated menacing in the New Year’s Day incident, court records say. He was a custodial worker from April 2014 until he was fired last month, according to a news release from the city.

Boyd didn’t come to work from Jan. 1 to Jan. 17 and did not give documentation that illustrated why he did not show up to his job, the release says. The city gave him until Jan. 29 to provide documentation to justify his absence, the release says.

Boyd has been in the Cuyahoga County Jail since his New Year’s Day arrest on a $2 million bond, records show.

Cleveland spokesman Dan Williams said that Boyd wouldn’t be sequestered in the jail and had opportunities to reach out and call the city to let his boss know what happened. City officials sent an AWOL termination to Boyd informing him that he didn’t provide documents excusing his absences for work, the release says.

The incident with his wife happened shortly before 11 p.m. on Wilmore Avenue near East 215th Street, police said.

The woman told police she and Boyd got into a fight earlier in the day and Boyd accused her of cheating on him, the report says. Boyd left the home and came back later while the woman was sleeping. He woke her up and continued to argue.

He continued to accuse his wife of cheating, grabbed knives from a kitchen drawer and stabbed her multiple times, the report says. He turned on the knobs on the stove, filling the home with gas.

Boyd doused the home with gas and the woman managed to escape and go to the witnesses’ home, the report says. She further told police he managed to douse her with gasoline and tried to run her over before she escaped, the report says.